In the decades before World War I, industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller
had become millionaires; by the early years of the 20th century labor unrest
blossomed in the United States, particularly in the coal mine industry.
Strikes grew into riots occurring throughout the US, and then into full
scale battles, the most famous of which was in 1914, the Ludlow Coal Massacre,
when Colorado National Guard opened fire on a tent city of striking miners
and their families in Ludlow Colorado.

Basic Facts

On April 20, 1914, Colorado National Guardsmen attacked a tent colony
of 1,200 striking miners at Ludlow, Colorado, looting and burning the colony.
Twenty-five people were killed. This was the worst of many such skirmishes
between the government and the miners in Coal Field War of 1914, which
lasted for seven months.

Battle Statistics

The battle lasted 14 hours and included a machine gun and 200 armed
militia; the tent city was destroyed. Of the 25 people killed, three were
militia men, twelve were children, and one was an uninvolved passerby.
The strikers were mostly Greek, Italian, Slav, and Mexican workers; the
militia were sent by the Governor of Colorado and ultimately by John D.
Rockefeller, owner of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

The events leading up to what is called the Ludlow Massacre began about
seven months earlier. There were over eleven thousand coal miners working
in Colorado for the Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation (CF&I, a company
owned by the Rockefeller family). They, like many of the miners of the
past, were made up primarily of immigrants or recently "native Americans"
( Greeks, Italians, Serbs).

As was a fact of life for those in such occupations, the work was hard
and dangerous (at the time, Colorado had one of the highest miner fatality
rates in the world), they were paid little and poorly treated. They made
$1.68 a day, in what was company scrip—meaning it wasn't good anywhere
except at stores and businesses run by the company. They were regularly
cheated by the company underweighing their mine carts. CF&I also ran
and controlled school facilities, libraries, and ministers, and collected
their rent—they owned towns where they lived. In fact, their lives were
owned by the company and the workers wanted something more in return.

Strike!Previous talk of a strike had been dismissed by the union but something
happened to set things off. A young labor organizer was shot to death by
men in the hire of the company (a "coroner's jury" of local businessmen
ruled it to be justifiable homicide). This was the proverbial last straw
and the workers gathered to discuss a strike.

They had hoped that the owners would agree to collective bargaining
and had invited them to discuss their various demands (of which, only two
were not already " guaranteed" by Colorado law). On 23 September 1913,
close to 95% of the workers went on strike, following the announcement
on the 17th:

All mineworkers are hereby notified that a strike of all the
coal miners and coke oven workers in Colorado will begin on Tuesday, September
23, 1913.... We are striking for improved conditions, better wages, and
union representation. We are sure to win. (www.pbs.org)

Not wanting to tolerate such dissent, the miners were quickly evicted from
their homes despite the cold Colorado winter ahead.

Rockefeller respondsJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his business associates were pleased with
the action taken as much as upset by the strike. Rockefeller wrote the
vice president of CF&I in October:

We feel that what you have done is right and fair and that
the position you have taken in regard to the unionizing of the mines is
in the interest of the employees of the company. Whatever the outcome,
we will stand by you to the end. (www.pbs.org)

That same month, the vice president wrote to him that the

net earnings would have been the largest in the history of
the company by $200,000 but for the increase in wages paid the employees
during the last few months. With everything running so smoothly...it is
mighty discouraging to have this vicious gang come into our state and not
only destroy our profit but eat into that which heretofore been saved.
(www.pbs.org)

(He is referring to union organizer and social activist Mother Jones—who
was eventually arrested, confined, and then expelled from the state—and
the United Mine Workers Union who had come to aid the striking workers.)

StrikebreakersThe United Mine Workers Union (or United Mine Workers of America, UMWA)
helped them by setting tent cities in the surrounding hills, while the
workers continued striking and picketing. In response, the Rockefeller
"interests" brought in more men from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency—basically
hired gun strikebreakers (it was one of them who had shot the labor organizer)—
to help deal with the "problem." They brought along Gatling guns and rifles
and began to raid the "cities." With the raids began the casualties. Miners
armed themselves for protection against the "detective agency" and its
band of hired thugs and gunmen who had already set themselves up in local
sheriff's offices, making themselves a sort of unofficial police organization.

Despite the hired "muscle," the workers managed to hold out and continue
the strike and resist the raids. They even managed to drive back an armored
car with a mounted machine gun. With the strike and the workers' ability
to fend off strikebreakers, the mines were unable to continue operating—which
angered not only the corporate ownership, but the governor of the state.
In order to bring a halt to the situation, he called out the National Guard
(which had its wages paid by the Rockefellers—three to four times what
the workers had made per day).

At first, the miners thought the National Guard was there to protect
them, even greeting them waving flags and cheering. The facts of matter
were soon learned. Guardsmen beat and arrested—"by the hundreds"—miners
and "rode down with their horses parades of women in the streets of Trinidad,
the central town in the area" (Zinn, People's...). Rockefeller was pleased
with the proceedings (in a letter to the vice president):

You are fighting the good fight, which is not only in the interest
of your own company but of other companies of Colorado and the business
interests of the entire country and the laboring classes quite as much.
I feel hopeful the worst is over and that the situation will improve daily.
Take care of yourself, and as soon as it is possible, get a little let-up
and rest. (www.pbs.org)

Not willing to be simply beaten down, the workers took action. They killed
a strikebreaker and some mine guards (they were escorting scabs to the
mines). They severely beat another and the murderer of the labor organizer
was shot and killed. The guard and detectives stepped up their harassment
and abuse.

Still the strikers hung on through the winter.

massacre.Sunday 19 April 1914. The Greek workers and their families were celebrating
Easter. Some strikers were playing a baseball game. Five armed men on horses
showed up to break up the game (arbitrary harassment of the strikers was
common and de rigueur). The crowd was too large for them to easily disperse
and they decided better of it. Reportedly, as they were leaving, some of
the women and children laughed at them. They replied "Oh that's right,
have your fun today, we'll have our roast tomorrow" (www.uvm.edu; this
might be apocryphal or exaggerated but does give a sense of the antagonism
that went on).

The following morning, people were going about their business as usual,
trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in the midst of the strife. Little
did they know that there were two companies of National Guardsmen stationed
in the hills above the largest tent camp (Ludlow) training their guns on
them. There were about one thousand men, women, and children living there.

At five minutes to ten, a bomb went off, sending the people into a panic.
It was the first of two signals to the men with the guns. At ten, a second
one went off and the people scattered, many men running toward the hills
to draw fire away from their families. The shooting was indiscriminate,
anyone was a potential target. Only having a handful of guns and ammunition,
the miners could only offer weak resistance. The shooting continued into
the afternoon.

Louis Tikas, a leader of the Greek workers, made an attempt to arrange
a truce. He went up into the hills for his meeting and never returned.
Women and children who were unable to make an escape to the hills dug pits
in the tents to avoid the gunfire. The day wore on and around dusk the
guardsmen came down to the camp and began dowsing the tents with kerosene
and setting them on fire. Along with the tents were three American flags
that the workers had flying. Those remaining fled for their lives.

The following day, amid the charred debris, a telephone linesman moved
an iron cot, uncovering one of the pits. Inside it were the burned bodies
of eleven children and two women. At least twenty-six people were killed
in the massacre.

The day after the events, Rockefeller sent a telegram to the vice president:
"We profoundly regret this further lawlessness and accompanying loss of
life."